Occupy This Album

Occupy This Album

May 17, 2012

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It was only a matter of time: Occupy This Album, a new collection featuring ninety-nine tracks of class-conscious music from ninety-nine artists, underscores the important role that music has played in the Occupy movement since the first days of the drum circle in Zuccotti Park.

Released this week for $9.99 by Music for Occupy, a nonprofit production company working in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, to which it is funneling all profits from the project, the album contains plenty of familiar names, like Yoko Ono, Third Eye Blind, Debbie Harry, Jackson Browne, Joan Baez, Yo La Tengo, Ani DiFranco, Willie Nelson, David Crosby & Graham Nash, Thievery Corporation, Immortal Technique, and, of course, Tom Morello, the musical patron saint of Occupy. All of these artists donated the tracks free of charge.

There are also numerous more obscure musicians featured, which, as Music for Occupy explains is part of the point of the album: “We look to give voices and opportunities to artists who support our vision; specifically artists who most have never been heard before, and have many troubles making it in today’s industry because their message is just not “Pop” enough. We look to team up socially conscious known and accomplished artists, with other artists that could use a light shined on them by those same artists.”

I like this tune from Matt Pless called ‘Something’s Got to Give.”

This report from RT Television details the making of the album in an interview with the project’s executive producer, Jason Samel.